Tricks and traps, especially in the opening, are a dangerous reality of competitive chess. All sorts of surprises await the unwary player, from devastating sacrifices to cunning move order ploys.

A knowledge of such ideas is essential if a player wants to be the hunter rather than the victim.

On this DVD Davies presents thematic tricks and traps that can arise in Flank Openings such as the English, Reti, Larsen’s Opening (1.b3) and the Bird (1.f4), breaking them down into a different categories.

The examples are designed to appeal to players of every level and feature a wide variety of systems. Besides coverage of some of the purely tactical traps Davies looks at some positional traps that can occur in Flank Openings which can lead to miserable positions if players are unaware of them.

He also puts an emphasis on the psychological side of things and explains why a trap is likely to succeed. Accordingly the viewer should learn things that help his game as a whole.

Nigel Davies has been an International Grandmaster since 1993 and is a former British Open Quickplay and U21 Champion. Besides his playing accomplishments he is an experienced chess coach with an ability to explain chess ideas players of any level.

He is an acknowledged expert on 1.g3 having played it on numerous occasions in his own games.